Probe scanning method

ABSTRACT

To provide a scanning method in which a probe is staggered across an uneven surface of a sample without increasing a relative speed thereof, and measurement of physical quantities acting on the probe and sample can be doubled compared with those measured by the conventional raster scan method. This method substantially improves a scanning speed.  
     A probe is staggered relatively over the surface of a sample by +1 scanning unit in X and Y directions, and physical quantities acting on the probe and sample are measured. Thereafter, the probe is staggered by +1 scanning unit in the X direction and by −1 scanning unit in the Y direction so that physical quantities acting on them are measured. The staggering movement of the probe is repeated to measure the physical quantities.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] This invention relates to a scanning probe microscope, and more particularly relates to an atomic force microscope using force acting on a cantilever probe and a sample, and a scanning tunneling microscope using a tunnel current flowing between a probe and a sample.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] The scanning probe microscope principally uses physical quantities acting on a probe and a sample when the former comes near the latter. Such a microscope is one of new microscopes designed in order to observe physical quantities of a sample surface by measuring effects of the physical quantities acting on the probe.

[0005] The atomic force microscope or the scanning tunneling microscope is a kind of scanning probe microscope. The atomic force microscope uses atomic force acting on a cantilever probe and a sample in order to control a distance between the probe and the sample, and measures physical quantities acting on them. The scanning tunneling microscope uses a tunnel current flowing between a conductive probe and a sample in order to control a distance between the probe and the sample, and measures physical quantities acting on them.

[0006] With the scanning probe microscope, the distance between the probe and the sample is controlled to be constant, a micro mechanism such as a piezoelectric device raster scans the sample surface, and quantities of control exerted by the micro mechanism are expressed by images, so that a shape or physical quantities of the sample surface can be observed.

[0007] The raster scan method which is a typical relative scanning method applied to the probe and sample will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

[0008] In the conventional raster scan method, the probe is relatively moved in the X direction with respect to the sample. Physical quantities acting on the probe and sample are measured each time the probe is moved in the X direction by +1 scanning unit. The measured physical quantities constitute one-picture-element data denoting a position of the probe and sample. When data of physical quantities are measured and collected for all the scanning units, the probe is moved by +1 scanning unit in the Y direction, and is positioned at the coordinate 0 in the X direction. The foregoing movements are repeated in order to measure the physical quantities acting on the surfaces of the probe and sample.

[0009] With the scanning probe microscope, physical quantities acting on the probe and sample are usually measured by precisely controlling the distance between them to several nm or less. When measuring the physical quantities acting on the probe and sample, the compatibility of high resolution and high speed measurement is subject to a certain limit, which is a problem in view of throughput improvement. This problem is particularly serious if a sample surface is uneven by approximately several 100 nm or more. In such a case, the probe and sample may be damaged if they crash against each other. Therefore, it is impossible to easily accelerate the scanning operation.

[0010] In the raster scan method of FIG. 3, it is necessary to increase the number of scanning units in the X and Y directions when performing the measurement with high resolution. However, throughput of the measurement is inversely proportional to the number of scanning units in the Y direction. In other words, if it takes time t to scan one line in the X direction, total time for scanning the sample surface is tX (i.e. the number of scanning units in the Y direction). The more scanning units there are in the Y direction, the longer the measurement time. Further, in order to accelerate the measurement, the number of scanning units in the Y direction has to be reduced, which means reduced resolution.

[0011] The invention is intended to overcome the foregoing problems of the related art, and provides a method which can not only maintain high resolution but can also accelerate a scanning operation in order to reduce overall measuring time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] As described above, it is principally difficult for the conventional scanning probe microscope using the raster scan technique shown in FIG. 3 to perform the measurement with high resolution and at a high speed. According to the invention, when moving from a position 1 to a position 2 as shown in FIG. 3, a probe is staggered relative to a sample in the X and Y directions (refer to FIGS. 1 and 2) in order to measure physical quantities acting on the probe and the sample.

[0013] In accordance with the scanning method shown in FIG. 1, the relative moving speed of the probe on an uneven surface of the sample is substantially equal to that of the raster scan method of FIG. 3. However, areas to be measured can be approximately doubled, which means substantial improvement in a scanning speed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0014]FIG. 1 shows an example of the scanning method according to the invention.

[0015]FIG. 2 shows another example of the scanning method of the invention.

[0016]FIG. 3 shows an example of the conventional scanning method.

[0017]FIG. 4 shows an example of mapping measured data.

[0018]FIG. 5 shows another example of mapping measured data.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0019] The invention will be described with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in accompanying drawings.

[0020]FIG. 1 shows in detail the scanning method defined in claims 1 and 2. Specifically, FIG. 1 relates to an embodiment in which a probe moves linearly in one scanning unit while FIG. 2 relates to another embodiment where the probe moves in the space of a sine wave in one scanning unit.

[0021] Further, FIG. 4 shows that data collected by the scanning method of FIG. 1 are mapped as images in the embodiment of claim 1. FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 1, in which the collected data are mapped as images in the embodiment of claim 2.

[0022] Since the scanning methods shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are basically identical, the method of FIG. 1 will be described hereinafter. Referring to FIG. 1, the probe relatively staggered with respect to a sample by +1 scanning unit in the X and Y directions so that physical quantities acting on the probe and the sample are measured. Next, the probe staggers by +1 scanning unit in the X direction and by −1 scanning unit in the Y direction. This operation is repeated in order to measure physical quantities acting on the probe and the sample. The staggered probe can scan approximately two scan lines in the X direction at the same time, which is approximate to two scanning operations in the raster scan method of FIG. 3, and can improve the actual scanning speed. Further, the probe repeatedly moves by +1 and −1 scanning units in the Y direction, and is substantially unaffected by the uneven surface of the sample. This means that the relative speed of the probe with respect to the sample is approximately equal to that of the raster scan method of FIG. 3.

[0023] In the scanning method of FIG. 1, physical quantities between the probe and the sample are measured at positions 1, 2, 3, . . . , 19, 20 and 21. The measured physical quantity data are mapped as image data as shown in FIG. 4.

[0024] It is assumed here that R(1), R(2), R(3), . . . , R(19), R(20) and R(20) denote the data obtained at the positions 1, 2, 3, . . . , 19, 20, 21 in FIG. 1, and D(1, 1), D(1, 2), D(1, 3), . . . D(2, 4), D(2, 5), D(3, 1), etc. denote the data mapped as the image in FIG. 4. The data are mapped as the image data by applying the following related formula.

D(1, 1)=R(1)

D(1, 2)=R(3)

D(1, 3)=R(5)

D(1, 4)=R(7)

D(1, 5)=R(9)

D(2, 1)=(R(1)+R(2))/2

D(2, 2)=(R(2)+R(3)+R(4))/3

D(2, 3)=(R(4)+R(5)+R(6))/3

[0025] The image data at the surface positions in the X and Y directions such as the mapping data D(2, 2) and D(2, 3) which are present between the positions 2 and 4, 4 and 6 and so on, and D(2, 1) at one end and so on in FIG. 1 are not obtained by actual measurement but are interpolated using physical quantities which are actually measured near the foregoing surface positions. In the embodiment of claim 1, the number of picture elements of the mapped data is equal to the number of collected data.

[0026] It is assumed here that R(1), R(2), R(3) . . . , R(19), R(20), R(20) denote the data obtained at the measurement positions 1, 2, 3, . . . , 19, 20, 21 in FIG. 1, and D(1, 1), D(1, 2), D(1, 3), . . . D(1, 9), D(1, 10), D(2, 1) denote the data mapped in the image in FIG. 4. The data are mapped as the image data by applying the following related formula.

D(1, 1)=R(1)

D(1, 2)=(R(1)+R(2)+R(3))/3

D(1, 3)=R(3)

D(1, 4)=(R(3)+R(4)+R(5))/3

D(1, 10)=(R(9)+R(10))/2

D(2, 1)=(R(1)+R(2)/2

D(2, 2)=R(2)

D(2, 3)=(R(2)+R(3)+R(4))/3

D(2, 4)=R(4)

D(2, 5)=(R(4)+R(5)+R(6))/3

[0027] In this case, all the measured physical quantity data are used as image data. The image data at the surface positions in the X and Y directions such as the mapping data D(2, 3) and D(2, 5) which are present between the positions 2 and 4, 4 and 6 and so on, and mapping data D(1, 2)), D(1, 4) which are present between the positions 1, 3 and 3 and 5 and so on in FIG. 1, or the mapping data D(1, 10), D(2, 1) at an end and so on are not obtained by actual measurement but are interpolated using physical quantities actually measured near the foregoing surface positions.

[0028] Claim 2 defines the embodiment in which the number of picture elements of the mapped data is larger than the number of collected data. In this case, the number of mapping picture elements is four times more than the number of pseudo collected data.

[0029] According to the invention, the probe is relatively staggered over the uneven surface of the sample at a speed approximately equal to that of the raster scan method shown in FIG. 3. However, the scanning probe microscope can scan two scan lines at the same time, which is approximate to two scan operations in the raster scan method. This results in an improvement in actual scanning speed. Further, since the probe is staggered across the surface of the sample, it is possible to extensively improve the resolution when the collected data are mapped into picture elements which are more than the number of collected data. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A probe scanning method using a scanning probe microscope such as an AFM (atomic force microscope) or an STM (scanning tunneling microscope) in order to detect physical quantities acting on a probe and a sample and to measure a surface shape and physical quantities of the sample, wherein, when scanning within a plane between the sample and the probe, physical quantities acting on the probe and the sample are measured by relatively staggering the probe with respect to the sample in X and Y directions, and image data for the measured physical quantities data within the XY plane are created using the measured physical quantities data and relative positional in-plane information of the probe and the sample.
 2. The probe scanning method of claim 1 , wherein physical quantities acting on the probe and the sample are measured by relatively staggering the probe with respect to the sample in X and Y directions, and the measured physical quantities data and relative positional in-plane information of the probe and the sample are used, and in order to improve resolution of surface measurement of the sample in the X and Y directions, image data of physical quantities of the X and Y surfaces which are not actually measured are interpolated using physical quantities at positions near the X and Y surfaces where physical quantities are actually measured. 